Author: Staff Writer
South Africa has 402 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of 128 from Sunday’s announcement. On Monday, the Health Department confirmed an increase of 128 cases. The Northern Cape has its first confirmed cases. The announcement comes just hours ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on measures to be undertaken to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. The President is scheduled to address the nation this evening. “We will thereafter engage the public to give further details and explanations on the results including the significant rise, the ongoing testing processes, each province’s progress on contact tracing efforts,” said…
With the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the full economic impact on business needs to be critically considered. Especially for a country such as South Africa, that is still grappling with the effects of a recent technical recession. We are all very aware of the human toll that the virus has had on societies across the board. We have also seen the measures that various governments have put in place to try curb and gain some sense of control over the spread and intensity of the virus, by encouraging self-isolation during this pandemic. “Taking the necessary precautions is vital,…
As business and society, we are seeing a concerning increase in the transmissions of COVID-19 cases across multiple countries. The virus has had a far-reaching impact on our societies and is testing the resilience and tenacity of businesses and individuals alike. Globally, governments and companies are ramping up efforts to help mitigate the spread of the virus. In MTN’s footprint 17 of our 21 markets have COVID-19 infections. “MTN’s priority is keeping people connected during this period. We need to play our part in the alleviation of the economic, social and educational impact through the support of key institutions such…
As South Africa and the international community continue to intensify efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, FNB has reaffirmed its commitment to help SMEs and individual customers whose financial position is adversely impacted by COVID-19. The Bank continues to work with the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA), in engaging with the SARB and Government on a variety of solutions aimed at supporting both consumers and businesses through these difficult times. We will make further announcements on the nature of this support in the days ahead. FNB believes that SMEs and an economically viable consumer market are vital to…
To play its part in reducing the impact of COVID-19 on customers,Nedbank says it will offer all clients “individual solutions to cashflow challenges”. The solutions will be available to clients in good standing who are impacted by this pandemic. “We undertake to work with our clients to help them through this period of enormous challenge for all South Africans,” the bank said in a statement. “This undertaking to work alongside and support our clients with suitable individual solutions to cashflow challenges they may experience as a result of COVID-19 extends to any loan agreement they have with us. “This support…
Call blocking by South Africa’s biggest network operators is negatively impacting many local telecoms customers who are finding they cannot always successfully complete phone calls. This is according to Anthony Engelbrecht, Technical Director at an independent telco, Huge Networks. He explains that some clients of SA’s many Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telecoms networks such as Huge Networks, Connection Telecoms and dozens of others are increasingly finding that calls they place are not reaching the intended telecoms user. VoIP operators are typically smaller telcos that came into being as the country’s telecoms landscape was liberalised in the 1990s. Their emergence…
The South African army could be deployed to patrol the streets in a bid to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to a report in the Sunday Times. Health minister Zweli Mkhize told the newspaper that the government would gradually impose stricter measures as the virus spreads before the worse case of a national shutdown. “Right now it is restrictions. [We] might have to begin to bring in the army to go out and work around the people, talk to them about hygiene, getting them to go sanitise, and so on,” said Mkhize. It was announced yesterday that…
The time is past when tossing a single coin was already an added value. There are currently hundreds of coins and thousands of tokens in the world of cryptocurrencies, and therefore when a company wants to succeed it must offer not just one coin or one token, but an entire value proposition for an entire ecosystem. This is the case of the proposal that we bring today: Silk Road Coin by LGR Group. What do we understand by Silk Road? Before going in to talk in-depth, we must be clear about what we are talking about when we talk about…
Huawei Technologies has handed over a million rand donation to South Africa’s Department of Health, to support efforts to fight and contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize who also received a further two million from the South Africa-China Economic and Trade Association, at the Chinese Embassy in Pretoria, says the money will be used for testing and managing the outbreak. The Minister hailed the donation as a very important mark of friendship, solidarity and partnership from Huawei and other Chinese businesses. He went on to say that there has been a huge amount of…
What do grocery shopping, performing a banking transaction, avoiding traffic congestion, booking a restaurant and hailing a ride all have in common? If this question was asked a little over a decade ago, the simple answer would have been a resolute “nothing”. After all, it was only in July 2008 that the entire mobile industry began to revolve around apps. Fast-forward to 2020, and now there is an app for almost anything and everything. With approximately six million apps available in the market today, consumers have uninterrupted access to a richer, hyper-connected experience. These apps have shaped the way we…